MU: Go global, forget local?

Sarika, a final year engineering student at the University of Mumbai has made the University’s Kalina campus her second home. For three years now, she has been in an exhausting race to get the university to issue her marksheet. A few days ago when Sarika’s mother approached the university yet again as the college wasn’t allowing Sarika to sit for the final exam without the marksheet, officials made a revelation — Sarika had never passed the exam. It was owing to a wrong result that she was not issued a marksheet. Two months later, Sarika is unsure of her future, as the university, despite admitting to its mistake, has not taken a decision in her case. Fearing that all the exams she took in the last three years would be declared invalid, her mother was recently admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure while Sarika has gone into depression.  

Several others like Sarika have been victims of the university’s dismal functioning over the last few years.

This is precisely the reason for all the criticism from stakeholders when the university Vice-Chancellor (VC) Sanjay Deshmukh announced his plans of opening a campus in Dubai and the United States recently. While the 160-year-old university aims to make a ‘global’ mark, it has ignored local priorities that it should address.  

“Several VCs in the past have tried to collaborate with foreign universities. However, the process of opening a physical campus requires many clearances and permissions. The university’s needs to focus on its existing issues. Key decision-making bodies are operating with ad-hoc appointments for the past two years, and the university does not take suggestions of experts and senior educationists while taking any important decisions. Announcing a foreign campus, at this point, is a huge blunder,” said AD Sawant, former pro-VC at the University.  

Stepmother treatment

Even as the VC plans to offer distance education from the US, its very own Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) is in shambles. The institute, which saw an enrolment of over 76,000 students under various courses for 2016-17 does not have a full-time director for the past two years. “The recently implemented Choice Based Credit system (CBCS) under which students can pick from a wide variety of electives hasn’t yet been introduced IDOL students,” said a senior faculty member on condition of anonymity. As per data available on the university’s official website, study material for over 65 papers is not available even as the academic year is over. Like IDOL, the three sub-centres of the university — at Ratnagiri, Thane and the recently opened Kalyan centre face several issues. “The university has neglected its own sub-centres for a long time. From basic issues like unavailability of water to the absence of administrative bodies in those campuses, students face a lot of difficulties. Most students have to come to the Kalina campus to voice their concerns in the absence of independent bodies in those centres,” said Sanjay Vairal, Ex-senate member of the university.

Crumbling infrastructure

The Maharashtra government had directed the University of Mumbai to either utilise or return Rs 2 crore sanctioned for the construction of Dr Rammanohar Tripathi Hindi Bhasha Bhavan in its Kalina Campus before March 31, 2017. The university, however, chose to return the money citing that the funds are ‘inadequate’ for the building. Another seven-storey building which was proposed to be a cultural centre is lying unused for three years. Ironically, MU VC Sanjay Deshmukh announced a Rs 300 crore revamp plan for the Kalina campus — under which he intends to erect high rise buildings to house the various departments.  

Many students housed in the five hostels of the university are struggling with crumbling infrastructure. Apart from the recently renovated Savitribai Phule Girls hostel, students living in the remaining four hostels are having to deal with leaky walls, stinking rooms and a poor or no Internet connectivity.  

Examination woes

For the last two years, the examination section is opearting without a permanent Controller and 50 per cent permanent posts are vacant. As per the information from the examination house, in 2015, almost 160 of the 357 sanctioned posts at the section were lying vacant.

Due to uncertainty over wages and job security, temporary staffers have been found involved in several malpractices like the engineering scam of 2016 and the marksheet racket exposed by the Anti Corruption Bureau in 2015.

“Delays in results have become common. Every year, lakhs of students lose opportunities for higher education and job prospects just because they do not get their marksheets in time. It’s time the university addresses this issue,” said Rohit Chandode, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Mumbai Secretary.

This year’s results of all the courses are pending following a decision to assess over 19 lakh answer sheets through the on-screen method. Even after the 45-day deadline as per the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, less than 10 per cent of the total evaluation work is complete.

Ignoring research rules

The university, which has awarded close to 1.61 lakh degrees at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level in 2016 with 326 research scholars being awarded their MPhil and PhD degrees that year, is yet to follow the minimum standard guidelines prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for awarding MPhil and PhD degrees. Some of the major violations in the standard procedure include not having an open viva, absence of an anti-plagiarism software and failure to upload the doctoral thesis on the UGC’s digital repository- Shodhganga.

Poor rankings  

The National Assessment and Accreditation council (NAAC) issues ratings to all the UGC recognised universities across the country every five years. Every institute tries for an ‘A’ grade in the accreditation to maintain its public reputation and to get access to the various schemes under the UGC for research and development meant for top universities across the country. On April 19, the ‘A’ accreditation given to MU in the 2012 assessment by NAAC expired as the university failed to re-apply before March 31. Losing out on its accreditation this time means that the university will have to wait for at least a few months until the UGC comes up with a new set of guidelines. In the last few years, MU lost several prominent national and international rankings — including the NIRF rankings by the HRD ministry and the QS world rankings, for the most ridiculous excuse — its officials failed to collate data to be submitted at the time of application. “The university should not be careless about some of its major responsibilities. If a 160-year-old institution cannot find its name in any of the national or global rankings, it is shameful,” said Santosh Gangurde, Vice President of the Maharashtra Navanirman Vidyarthi Sena, a student wing.

Ineffective helplines

Over the last few years, MU has failed to reach out to its students. All the helpline numbers of the university seldom function. While it has started its own Android application and a Twitter handle in the last two years, none of the queries raised by students on these forums are addressed by the university with students having no option but to stand in long queues for cold responses from the officials.

OFFICIAL SPEAK: Dr MA Khan, Registrar, University of Mumbai

Some of the most prominent positions including that of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Exam Controller, Director- IDOL are lying vacant for over two years now. Why is the university not making appointments to such key positions?

The University of Mumbai like all the other universities in the state is in a transition phase with the introduction of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act from March 2016. Under the new act, a new selection committee needs to be formed which can make these key appointments. The selection committee requires the statutory and governing bodies to be in place which would be done soon. We are trying to streamline the process and would make the key appointments at the earliest.

The delay in the on-screen evaluation process has left lakhs of students in lurch this year with results of most courses being delayed. Why was such a change in evaluation pattern done in the middle of the year?

The on-screen evaluation process is an initiative of the university to ensure a transparent process of correction which would be tamper-proof.  We acknowledge the fact that there have been delays in the process due to the delay in initial tendering process followed by the vacation period where we could not get enough teachers, but the process is being streamlined now and we would be able to declare the results in a fortnight.  

Over the last one year, the university has been in news for not being able to secure a spot in any of the national or international rankings despite being the oldest university in the country with such a large number of students. Is the administration working on improving the public image through such rankings?

The university is one of the largest universities in the world which makes compiling the data for all the departments and its 800 plus affiliated colleges a tough and time-taking task. Last year, we were not able to send data for most rankings. Having improved from there, our team is working on building a database of all the achievements of the university which we expect would be ready in the next few months which will reflect in the upcoming rankings.